United Nations agrees on watered-down sanctions against North Korea

Ambassador Han Tae Song also lashed out at the United States during a session of the U.N.'s Conference on Disarmament, saying North Korea denounces Washington's "evil intention" and would "make sure the USA pays a due price".

"The forthcoming measures by DPRK [the Democratic Republic of Korea] will make the U.S. suffer the greatest pain it has ever experienced in its history", Pyongyang's ambassador in Geneva told the UN Conference on Disarmament in the first North Korean reaction to Monday's unanimous vote.

These latest sanctions on North Korea are being described as "by far the strongest" ever imposed.

Infact, both China and Russian Federation have proposed a freeze-for-freeze stance, where North Korea can be asked to curb its nuclear program in return of US and South Korea stopping their military practices.

China's big banks have been quietly but surely weaning themselves off North Korean money. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned North Korea's ally China of repercussions if Beijing does not comply.

Once a person or a company is placed on the American list of prohibited entities, USA (and even foreign) companies can face strict penalties within the United States for having dealings with them.

"North Korea has conducted a major nuclear test". It should not be long before North Korea develops the capability to miniaturise its nuclear weapons and fit them to its intermediate and long-range missiles.

Pyongyang has staged a series of missile tests in recent months, culminating in an intercontinental ballistic missile that appeared to bring much of the United States mainland into range - ramping up tensions and earning itself a seventh set of UN Security Council sanctions.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe quickly welcomed the resolution and warned after the vote it was important to change North Korea's policy by imposing a higher level of pressure.

The decision was the ninth sanctions resolution unanimously adopted by the 15-member Security Council since 2006 over North Korea's aggressive development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

They also ban all textile exports and prohibit any country from authorizing new work permits for North Korean workers - two key sources of hard currency for the northeast Asian nation. His comments puzzle many North Korea watchers in the region and in the U.S. Democrats and some Republicans in Congress, including Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass.), have also expressed worries over Trump's "vague Twitter bluster".

Koo Kab-Woo of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul said the measures carried symbolic value as the "first U.S. attempt at touching North Korea's economic lifeline".

"One of the unfortunate things is that [the tweets] may encourage North Korean rulers to miscalculate in a very risky way", Eberstadt said.

Both Beijing and Moscow had strong words for Washington.

China's United Nations ambassador urged the council to adopt the freeze-for-freeze proposal and urged the U.S. to pledge not to seek regime change or North Korea's collapse.

"My hope is the regime will hear the message loud and clear and it will choose a different path", Wood said. Russia's envoy said Washington's unwillingness to have UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres try to resolve the dispute "gives rise to very serious questions in our minds". According to South Korea's central bank estimates, its neighbor's gross national income was just 2.2 percent of that of South Korea in 2015.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe welcomed the resolution saying it "made clear the will of the global community" while Seoul said Pyongyang should accept the United Nations resolution as a "strict warning".